Allotments 4 All
Produce => Non Edible Plants => Topic started by: Andy H on December 01, 2006, 12:49:00
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Is this comfrey?
(http://publish.hometown.aol.co.uk/andya2b/myhomepage/comfrey.jpg?mtbrand=AOL_UK)
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Excellent thanks for that.
I was hoping I had stuffed the right stuff into my "just built comfrey pipe"!
(http://publish.hometown.aol.co.uk/andya2b/myhomepage/comfrey%20pipe.jpg?mtbrand=AOL_UK)
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I tried coke bottle in pipe and then built it.
Alas! I picked up a different pipe and when done, nothing would fit in it!!! >:(
Then a jam jar jumped out at me and then a bucket of lead weights found whilst diving made an ideal weight for a small jar!
Now I wont be so annoyed at the nasty weeds that kept coming up!
Thanks to philcooper for the diagram!
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It could also be this leaves very like comfrey.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=016&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=260041844469&rd=1&rd=1
looks like comfrey, but the flower is a beautiful blue it grows all over my garden if it can.
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MMmmmmm??????
I dont think thr roots would produce red dye?
I await further guesses, I wouldn`t have thought it rare like the link suggests. It pops up everywhere.
I will ask the wife to see if it flowers blue or otherwise.
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No its not rare, its a wildflower you can see it on the roadside verges, lovely flowers I dig it up and put it in compost heap at home. Has a long tap root dont know about the dye factor.
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I have a variegated leaf one which is not as invasive and really quite pretty.
You can get a Bocking 14(?) clone which does not make impossible to get out tap roots...
8)
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Thanks for that, so it is comfrey then?
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Hi Andy
What colours flowers does your Comfrey plant have? From the picture it looks more like the leaves of the white flowered one, whereas the one for making Comfrey fertilizer is the blue/mauve-ish flowered one (Russian Comfrey) which is much stronger growing - and taller - with coarser leaves. They both seed all over the place, unless you get the 'Bocking 14' strain of Russian Comfrey which flowers but doesn't set seeds. All Russian Comfrey seems to have a long tap root and any part left grows again.
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Alkanet and comfrey are quite different plants; that looks like comfrey to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkanet . Any comfrey will make fertiliser, but the white stuff is smaller and less rampant than some of the others. I've never tried the Russian stuff, but I've never had trouble with the native comfrey seeding. The onlty drawback is that it's next to impossible to get rid of it once it establishes itself.
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Can`t remember the flower colour, will look at root tomorrow.
Doesn`t look like Roberts link. Just had the broad leaves as shown.
so if it is comfrey with white flowers then it is still usable but grows less...
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there are 2 types of comfrey one with blue flower and one with white.
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I've grown white ones, blue ones, light purple ones and dark purple ones. The last two were wild comfrey, the first two cultivars. The white stuff was, as I say, rather smaller than the others.
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Mmmm,quite sure it is comfrey then so I will let it grow and see what colour the flowers are and see how the liquid does in the meantime.....
Thanks for all your help... will keep imformed.... ;D
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Hi Andy
I want to build a comfrey thingy like you have done - how do you tap the juice? do you just undo the cap?
I was going to plant it next to my compost bins and build the contraption on the side of one - well that's the plan - first I have to get the pallets to build the bins etc - plus obtain the comfrey plants!
Louise
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http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,9074.20
Phil cooper put a picture on this site a while ago(above link)
The same as on mine, you undo the cap at bottom and out it comes, would not be hard to have a tap on it.
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we have a bucket in the poly, ray's put another bucket on top, with a hole in the bottom
comfrey, docks, nettles, etc, including roots, go in the top one
bricks on top of the plants'
lid on
liquid drips into the bottom one aand is decanted into 6 pint milk bottles :D
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i put the leaves around tom plants and melons in grow bags and put the leaves in the compost bin /shades x
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:D :D I just use stinging nettles is this OK?. I just leave them in a bucket of water for a week or so and add to watering can, if you leave it to long in the summer it don't arf hum and nettles go in compost heap when I've finished. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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I have the Alkanet in the garden and comfrey the pink blocking 14 down lottie must take some leaves of each and post here if I can ?
Borage is the same fam and I believe leaves are the same?
I have heard nettles are good also nettle tea is good for losing weight. Just another gem for you all. ha ha
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Mmmmm I guess whatever it is then it is deep rooted and probably mush down to good feed.
I have heard nettles are good also nettle tea is good for losing weight
You sting your tongue so badly you cant eat for a week ;D ;D ;D
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Alkanet in the garden
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teresa...that looks the same ;D
So is it the same but diff name?
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:D :D :D Liking the gag Andy. lol ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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growmore,
are you sure thats Borage? I'm the borage queen on our plots (now everyones got it ;D) and it doesn't look anything like your picture/shades x
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There are other plants which in the leaf stage at this time of the year, look like comfrey: borage, alkanet. There's also Foxglove.
There are several comfrey's including - Russian comfrey (ht to 5ft plus in some cases), Soft comfrey, which has white flowers and less coarse leaves than Russian comfrey, Tuberous comfrey (which is not Borage), this has white flowers and not as tall as soft comfrey. Russian comfrey has deep tap-root type roots (and there is a theory that because of these deep roots, they pick up nutrients from the soil which then go up into the leaves and that's why the leaves are good for making comfrey 'juice' as a fertilizer or for putting on the compost heap)
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HHHhhhmmmmmmmmmmm?
Just emptied out contents of comfrey pipe and it smells of tea!!!
Was expecting it to be pongy.....
I wish now, when I built pipe, I had put a stainless scourer/pot scrubber in bottom of bottle as the mushy stuff stops liquid coming out....